This week on Premeditated Opinions, we’re doing something a little different.

We’re not here to drag anyone.
We’re not here to start a denomination.
We’re definitely not starting a cult (Substack jokes aside).

But we are talking about church hurt, purity culture, deconstruction, and what spirituality looks like on the other side of it.

After attending an event featuring Dr. Hillary McBride and Joshua Harris — yes, that Joshua Harris of I Kissed Dating Goodbye fame — we realized it was time to offer some clarity about where we stand spiritually… and how we got here.

In this episode, we unpack:

• Growing up in high-control evangelical environments
• Purity culture, modesty policing, and the damage it does
• Being on church stages while quietly unraveling inside
• Getting “dress-coded” for worship leading
• Discovering affirming churches and asking better questions
• Deconstruction: what it actually means (and what it doesn’t)
• Why Christian nationalism feels like a breaking point
• “All my theology is written in pencil”
• Why you can sing worship songs without agreeing with every lyric
• And whether you can just declare yourself a frog (you cannot)

This isn’t a takedown of faith.
It’s not anti-spiritual.
It’s not anti-church.

It’s a conversation about how spirituality can be formative, beautiful, and grounding, without being harmful, exclusionary, or weaponized.

We talk honestly about:

• Why some of us still speak Christianity as a “native language”
• Why others don’t want to use that label at all
• And why asking questions doesn’t make you broken, it makes you awake

If you’ve ever wrestled with religion…
If you’ve ever felt betrayed by church culture…
If you’ve ever tried to reconcile faith with politics…
If you’re spiritually curious but institutionally skeptical…

This one’s for you.

We’re not offering answers.
We’re offering context.

And maybe a little breathing room.

Support the show

Stay Connected with us on these platforms:

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Youtube: https://youtube.com/@premeditatedopinionspodcast

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This week on Premeditated Opinions, we celebrate two very different American traditions:

1. Chicken and waffles at a dive bar on Valentine’s Day
2. Congressional hearings that feel suspiciously like reality television

You’re welcome.

We kick things off with the evolution of Pamela’s now-sacred Valentine’s tradition: a quest for chicken and waffles that began in Louisville, survived a hookah bar, endured relocation to Dallas, and somehow now involves five adults, one confused hostess, and another confused server.

From there, we spiral (politely) into:

• Why traditions matter more than the food
• The difference between cynical Valentine’s Day and choosing fun
• Dogs, brisket at 1AM, and questionable trimming decisions

And then, because we live in 2026 and nothing is calm, we talk about:

• Political hearings that feel like scripted television
• Why following historians like Heather Cox Richardson keeps us sane
• The difference between staying informed and doomscrolling
• The danger of theatrical politics replacing serious governance
• Epstein files, conspiracy culture, and why accountability still matters

We don’t pile on.
We don’t scream.
We do, however, expect adults in power to behave like adults.

And because we refuse to end on doom and gloom, we pivot to:

• Out-of-country vacation dreams
• Beach vs. mountains
• RV life, Big Bend, and why plumbing is non-negotiable

This episode is equal parts:

• friendship
• frustration
• food
• and fully baked thoughts

If you’re trying to balance staying informed without losing your mind, and also just want to laugh about confusing a Valentine’s Day server, you’re in the right place.

Support the show

Stay Connected with us on these platforms:

Website: https://www.premeditatedopinions.com

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@premeditatedopinionspodcast

Substack: https://substack.com/@premeditatedopinions

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/premeditated_opinions/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@premeditated_opinions

And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share us with your friends and family!

This week on Premeditated Opinions, we do what we do best: take a party game that was absolutely not designed for philosophy… and immediately turn it into one.

Use this affiliate link to check out all of Dyce Games party games, and support us!

https://www.amazon.com/BAD-CHOICES-Have-Adult-Party/dp/B07RJ215S3?maas=maas_adg_B4627958FD98D6C37E32AA61B0EB2A9B_afap_abs&ref_=aa_maas&tag=maas

Using Bad Choices as our extremely loose framework, Pamela and Josh work their way through a series of “would you rather” questions that somehow unlock conversations about:

• money, desperation, and what survival actually looks like
• therapy, language, and why naming things makes them survivable
• psychics, tarot, spirituality, and our collective discomfort with mystery
• power, corruption, and whether authority actually changes people
• zombie apocalypses, medication logistics, and realistic self-assessment
• relationships, insecurity, boundaries, and knowing when to walk away
• reality TV, catfishing, and why boredom might be the real villain

Somewhere between “Would you drink human blood?” and “Would you amputate a finger for $50k?” we end up talking about dignity, values, and how much money is actually enough to compromise them.

This episode is:

• not serious
• not safe
• not advice

…but it is honest, funny, and accidentally revealing.

If you enjoy conversations that start ridiculous and end reflective — with plenty of detours, side comments, and self-awareness along the way — you’re in the right place.

Support the show

Stay Connected with us on these platforms:

Website: https://www.premeditatedopinions.com

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@premeditatedopinionspodcast

Substack: https://substack.com/@premeditatedopinions

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/premeditated_opinions/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@premeditated_opinions

And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share us with your friends and family!